utilitarianism in business ethics

[10] David W. Lawrence et al., Descriptive Epidemiology of Musculoskeletal Injuries and Concussions in the National Football League, 2021-2014, Orthopedic Journal of Sports Medicine, 2015:3(5):2325967115583653. [4] Center for Disease Control, at https://www.cdc.gov/traumaticbraininjury/index.html. John Stuart Mill was a nineteenth-century British philosopher and classical liberal economist who spent his working years with the East India Company. [53] Christie Aschwanden, Football’s Concussion Crisis Is Awash with Pseudoscience, Wired.com, Oct. 2, 2019. Advantages and Disadvantages of Utilitarian Ethics in Business. [84] Ted Tatos, Playing Games with College Athletes’ Lives, The American Prospect, May 20, 2020. An Analysis of Youth Football Head Impact Data, Neurosurgery (Jan. 2020), available at https://doi.org/10.1093/neuros/nyz563. Ethics, Population Health Policy, and Sports-Related TBI, in Sociolcultural Examinations of Sports Concussions (Matt Ventresca & Mary McDonald eds, 2020). Although the appropriate amount of regulation and laws will always be a subject of debate, political and economic policies are geared primarily toward fostering as much well-being for as many people as possible, or at least they should be. [5] Although concussions can carry serious consequences, they are termed a “mild” form of TBI because they are not typically life threatening. -- Created using PowToon -- Free sign up at http://www.powtoon.com/youtube/ -- Create animated videos and animated presentations for free. A limitation of utilitarianism is that it tends to create a black-and-white construct of morality. [28] Eamon T. Campolettano et al., Development of a Concussion Risk Function for a Youth Population Using Heal Linear and Rotational Acceleration, Annals of Biomedical Engineering, 48(1): 92 DOI: 10.1007/s10439-019-02382-2. Business Ethics - Deontological Theory, Utilitarianism, Ethical Relativism, Justice, and Rights - Essay Example. We Know Little About the Long-term Effects of Concussions, Statnews, Sept.27, 2019. Do you think these critiques are counterbalanced by the fact that the riches that are often lavished upon NFL players go disproportionately to African-Americans as well? CEO may have his bonus taken away/salary cut during recession [92] Patrick Findler, Should Kids Play (American) Football?, Journal of the Philosophy of Sport, 42(3): 443-462 (2015). Thus, they are disproportionately exposed to concussions and other injuries that arise from the game. Discuss your reasoning. [13] Michael L. Alosco et al., Repetitive Head Impact Exposure and Later-Life Plasma Total Tau in Former National Football League Players, Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment and Disease Monitoring, 7: 33-40 (2017). This yellow to reddish-brown translucent material has been used in a number of ways, including to make jewelry, in Egyptian burials, and in the healing arts. If you were a university scientist, how would you decide whether it is ethical for you to buy amber from Myanmar? A 2019 study of the brains of 223 football players with CTE and 43 players without CTE found that for each additional 2.6 years of play, the risk of developing CTE doubled. In some cases, amber contains inclusions, such as insects, whole or parts of animals, and plants that are trapped and preserved. Microeconomics is the branch of economics that analyzes market behavior of individuals and firms in order to understand their decision-making processes. One suggested solution to the concussion problem is to outlaw helmets on the theory that players will be forced to reduce headfirst collisions and other trauma-causing actions. It is completely fine to exploit workers. In liberal democracies throughout the centuries, the progenitors of utilitarianism spawned variants and extensions of its core principles. In the wake of the recent pandemic, Oklahoma State head football coach Mike Gundy said “In my opinion, if we have to bring our players back, test them. As a part of general and practical ethics, business ethics focuses on moral or ethical principles and issues that occur in the business environment, providing judgments as … What can scientists considering the morality of trading in Myanmar amber learn from the debate over “conflict minerals” in Africa? Pamela R. Sailors, Personal Foul: An Evaluation of the Moral Status of Football, Journal of the Philosophy of Sport, 42(2): 269-286 (2015). Utilitarianism promotes "the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people.". Daniel Goldberg observes that “there is also a crucial social and political question that is not simply a function of that empirical evidence base: to what risks is it acceptable to expose youths and adolescents?”. For many years this mining area has been protected by the Kachin Independence Army. Ethics, Population Health Policy, and Sports-Related TBI, in Sociolcultural Examinations of Sports Concussions (Matt Ventresca & Mary McDonald eds, 2020). Utilitarianism is a specific type of consequentialism that focuses on the greatest good for the greatest number. Do you think that the NFL would make more safety-related changes if white players dominated rosters? [31] Christie Aschwanden, Football’s Concussion Crisis is Awash with Pseudoscience, Wired.com, Oct. 2, 2019. Utilitarianism is a section or a part of the consequentialism theory. Chen noted that “there is no such thing as an acceptably risky crib,” but contrasted it with sports like football where “hazards are part of their attraction.” She asked: “How much risk is too much?”. The author of this theory suggests that firm must be valuable, rare, imperfectly imitable and perfectly non sustainable. [5] Center for Disease Control, at https://www.cdc.gov/headsup/basics/concussion_whatis.html. It is a form of consequentialism. Sherron Watkins’ ability to make judgment that Enron’s accounting standards were immoral created a rule utilitarianism approach with regards to the law and the concern with fairness; seeking to benefit the majority of people. [32] Matt Ventresca & Mary G. McDonald, Forces of Impact: Critically Examining Sport’s “Concussion Crisis,” in Sociolcultural Examinations of Sports Concussions (Ventresca & McDonald, eds., 2019). Football causes more concussions than any other high school sport. [12] Jesse Mez et al., Duration of American Football Play and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopothy, Annals of Neurology, 2019; DOI: 10.1002/ana.25611. Ramogi Huma, executive director of the National College Players Association, argued that schools should be required to fully inform [college] players about the risks of playing football now, including information about their susceptibilities to underlying health conditions. [52] Janine Armstrong, NFL Concussion Protocol Explained: How Does It Work?, Sportcasting, Oct. 13, 2019, at https://www.sportscasting.com/nfl-concussion-protocol-explained-how-does-it-work/. Riding a bicycle carries risk and not a whole lot of parents are not letting their kids ride a bike. [47] Ingfei Chen, Exactly How Dangerous Is Football?, The New Yorker, Feb. 1, 2020. Utilitarianism In Business Ethics. Over time more evidence has indicated that even mild concussions suffered by high school football players can cause serious consequences. If option A will create more happiness (or less misery) overall than option … A policy issue? This has led some to suggest that the NFL is a modern plantation. [35] Munro Cullum, Is Football Bad for the Brain? [55] Julie Mack, What Parents Need to Know about Football, Concussions and Head Injuries, mlive.com, Nov. 24, 2019, at https://www.mlive.com/news/2019/11/what-parents-need-to-know-about-football-and-head-injuries.html (quoting neuroscientist Julie Stamm). 8 short videos present the 7 principles of values-driven leadership from Giving Voice to Values by Mary Gentile. Despite their heightened susceptibility to concussions, youth football players rarely sustain concussions because they are lighter and collide with less force than older players. Given the obvious conflict of interest, the studies have been criticized on that ground. [58] Other people believe that media discussions have impeded needed change in minimizing sports violence. Copyright © 2020 Ethics Unwrapped - McCombs School of Business – The University of Texas at Austin, 8 short videos present the 7 principles of values-driven leadership from, https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/08/amber-fossil-supply-chain-has-dark-human-cost/594601/, https://www.cell.com/current-biology/pdf/S0960-9822(19)31097-8.pdf, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/07/fossil-bird-in-amber-has-unusually-long-toes/, https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24232280-600-blood-amber-the-exquisite-trove-of-fossils-fuelling-war-in-myanmar/, https://dc.law.utah.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1121&context=ulr, https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/05/fossils-burmese-amber-offer-exquisite-view-dinosaur-times-and-ethical-minefield, https://consult-myanmar.com/2018/07/11/myanmars-new-gold-mine-is-dinosaur-amber/, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982216311939?via%3Dihub, https://business.financialpost.com/commodities/mining/dodging-rumour-and-insurgency-the-hunt-for-burmese-amber-goes-to-the-heart-of-myanmars-turbulent-north, https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24232283-300-it-is-time-to-bring-global-attention-to-the-trade-in-burmese-amber/, https://www.cdc.gov/traumaticbraininjury/index.html, https://www.cdc.gov/headsup/basics/concussion_whatis.html, https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/chronic-traumatic-encephalopathy/symptoms-causes/syc-20370921, https://www.dispatch.com/news/20191124/student-athletes-still-reluctant-to-report-concussions-nationwide-childrens-study-finds, https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/15/health/concussion-high-school-sports-study/index.html, https://www.mlive.com/news/2019/11/what-parents-need-to-know-about-football-and-head-injuries.html, https://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/24/3/180.full, https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/27372974/did-helmet-rule-actually-work-2018-how-change-2019, https://www.sportscasting.com/nfl-concussion-protocol-explained-how-does-it-work/, https://slate.com/culture/2015/12/the-truth-about-will-smiths-concussion-and-bennet-omalu.html, https://www.healthnewsreview.org/2018/01/sports-desks-drop-the-ball-on-big-concussion-story/, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precautionary_principle, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harm_principle, https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/04/07/oklahoma-states-mike-gundy-says-his-team-needs-play-benefit-state-economy/. Today, having a formalized code of business ethics is more important than ever. Empirical research supports the notion that allowing children to engage in dangerous forms of play is key to their optimal development. Some argue against paternalism and in favor of individual choice, believing that adults (at least) should be able to choose to engage in boxing (and presumably to play football) despite its potentially adverse consequences for brain health. [34] Munro Cullum, Is Football Bad for the Brain? We have an incomplete understanding of the extent or distribution of pathology required to produce neurological dysfunction or to distinguish diseased from healthy tissue, with the neuropathological changes reported in apparently asymptomatic individuals.”[33], Neuropsychologist Munro Cullum argues: “I worry the pendulum has swung too far. [48] In addition, evidence indicates (and is consistent with the self-serving bias) that industry funding of research often influences results. [27] Bryan R. Cobb et al., Head Impact Exposure in Youth Football: Elementary School Ages 9-12 Years and the Effect of Practice Structure, Annals of Biomedical Engineering, 41: 2463-2473 (2013). In the airline industry, for example, many planes offer first-, business-, and economy-class seats. Most importantly, other studies seem to indicate that concussions may be more benign. 17–29. [50] The NFL has also changed rules to discourage helmet-to-helmet contact,[51] and has instituted protocols for safely returning concussed players to the field. When used in a sociopolitical construct, utilitarian ethics aims for the betterment of society as a whole. Explain. In this Wireless Philosophy video, Julia Markovits (Cornell University) gives an introduction to the moral theory of utilitarianism. How is happiness defined? [36] Munro Cullum, Is Football Bad for the Brain? [37] Everett J. Lehman et al., Suicide Mortality Among Retired National Football League Players Who Played 5 or More Seasons, American Journal of Sports Medicine, 44(10): 2486-2491 (2016). This hostile takeover of the profitable Kachin amber mines ensures that amber purchases from researchers and private collectors will help fund the government side of the Myanmar ethnic civil war. The more expensive upper-class seats help to ease the financial burden that the airline created by making room for economy-class seats. The offers that appear in this table are from partnerships from which Investopedia receives compensation. Acceptability. If subconcussive blows are the cause of C.T.E., how much impact is too much? [75] Steve Almond, Is It Immoral to Watch the Super Bowl?, New York Times, Jan. 24, 2014. Why or why not? Of 111 NFL players whose brains were donated for one study, 110 were diagnosed with CTE. For example, say a hospital has four people whose lives depend upon receiving organ transplants: a heart, lungs, a kidney, and a liver. Ethics, Population Health Policy, and Sports-Related TBI, in Sociolcultural Examinations of Sports Concussions (Matt Ventresca & Mary McDonald eds, 2020). [46] Robert F. Heary et al., Is Youth Football Safe? Is Getting Soft. Cam-bridge: Blackwell, pp. Utilitarianism holds that the most ethical choice is the one that will produce the greatest good for the greatest number. In economics, utility is the pleasure or satisfaction that people derive fromconsuming a product or service. Bry’s answer is that it’s not the players who are immoral, it is the fans who are comparable to Romans sitting in the Colosseum watching lions devour Christians. [63] Matt Ventresca, The Curious Case of CTE: Mediating Materialities of Traumatic Brain Injury, Communication & Sport, 7(2): 135-156 (2019). Tom would do this because he is promoting his well being above everyone else’s (QUT, 2011). A hard-core utilitarian would say that outcomes are all that matter. [60] Ingfei Chen, Exactly How Dangerous Is Football?, The New Yorker, Feb. 1, 2020. [8] Jeanne Marie Laskas, Concussion (2015). If a healthy person wanders into the hospital, his organs could be harvested to save four lives at the expense of his one life. Applying Utilitarianism in Business. Explain. In business contexts, utilitarianism implies an obligation for businesses to do what they can to act in a way that maximizes happiness and minimizes suffering. [66] Daniel Goldberg, Mild Traumatic Brain Injury, the National Football League, and the Manufacture of Doubt: An Ethical, Legal, and Historical Analysis, Journal of Legal Medicine, 34: 157-191 (2013). This would arguably produce the greatest good for the greatest number. [64] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precautionary_principle. As such, it is the only moral framework that can justify military force or war. Do you see parallels between the debate as to whether to begin playing football again in the wake of the pandemic and the debate as to whether to abolish or reform football in light of the evidence on brain trauma? Utilitarianism is a reason-based approach to determining right and wrong, but it has limitations. Most companies have a formal or informal code of ethics, which is shaped by their corporate culture, values, and regional laws. [23] Steven Senne, Student Athletes Still Reluctant to Report Concussions, Nationwide Children’s Study Finds, Columbus Dispatch, Nov. 24, 2019, at https://www.dispatch.com/news/20191124/student-athletes-still-reluctant-to-report-concussions-nationwide-childrens-study-finds. If the outcome leads to the greatest good (or the least harm) for the greatest number of people, then it is assumed the end justifies the means. The ability to hold a piece of history untouched by time has resulted in a number of scientific discoveries and advances such as feathers on a non-avian dinosaur dated 99 million years ago and the biosynthesis of gene clusters for novel antibiotics. Calculating consequences: The utilitarian approach to ethics Utilitarian? Which approach do you find more persuasive, and why? Is this ever a consideration that buyers should take into account? [26] James P. Kelly et al., Concussion in Sports: Guidelines for the Prevention of Catastrophic Outcome, JAMA, 266(20): 2867-2869 (1991). 2. How is justice accommodated? Rule utilitarianism is put in place to benefit the most people by using the fairest methods possible. [42] Sameer K. Deshpande et al, Association of Playing High School Football with Cognition and Mental Health Later in Life, JAMA Neurology, 74(8): 909-918 (2017). A Defense of a utilitarian approach to business ethics, written for Business Ethics: A Philosophical Approach Edited by Werhane and Donaldson. Explain why and how using that approach might play out. Act utilitarianism often demonstrates the concept that “the end justifies the means”—or it's worth it. Therefore, there is no correct way to treat employees. And concussion recurrence has been reduced, most likely by protocols guiding when it is safe to return to play. David Hume mentions it in his Inquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals and Adam Smith devotes a portion of his Theory of Moral Sentiments to the concept. [39] Atheendar S. Venkataramani et al, Association Between Playing American Football and Long-term Mortality, JAMA, 319(8): 800-806  (2018). Some of the questions they wrestled with include: What constitutes "the greatest amount of good"? An example of rule utilitarianism in business is tiered pricing for a product or service for different types of customers. Employees and Employers. Another study of 35 former NFL players over age 50 who had sustained multiple concussions during their careers found no significant association between the length of careers, the number of concussions, and their level of cognitive function later in life. They’re all in good shape. As told in the movies, a significant scientific breakthrough occurred in 2002 when an African-American neuropathologist in Pittsburgh named Bennet Omalu (played by Will Smith in the 2015 movie “Concussion”) performed an autopsy on Hall of Fame center Mike Webster. What moral principles would you take into account? However, in 2017 the Myanmar government dropped leaflets from helicopters informing the population in northern Kachin that civilians and Kachin militants who remain in the region will be considered hostile opposition to the government military forces. Utilitarianism holds that the most ethical choice is the one that will produce the greatest good for the greatest number. A labor union is an organization that represents the collective interests of workers in negotiations with employers. See Bennet I. Omalu et al, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy in a National Football League Player, Neurosurgery, 57: 128-134 (2005); [9] Ann McKee et al., The Neuropathology of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, Brain Pathology, 25: 350-364 (2015). Reveal the behavioral ethics biases in super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff 's story a section or a of. Game be ashamed of themselves discussions have impeded needed change in minimizing sports violence, concussions and:... Werhane and Donaldson of a utilitarian approach to answering this question, what the! Pain ; by unhappiness, pain, and the absence of pain ; by unhappiness, pain and... Then forced more than one billion dollars in legal revenue has been protected by the fact that the created... Need to kind of put it in context. ” people derive fromconsuming a product or service different... 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